Herkimer graduate to be sworn in as US ambassador to Chad

Thursday

WASHINGTON — Geeta Pasi, a former Herkimer resident and a Herkimer High School graduate, will be sworn in as the U.S. ambassador to Chad on Friday.

"I’m really honored to be nominated by the Secretary of State [John Kerry] and by the President [Barack Obama]," said Pasi during a telephone interview Wednesday. "It’s a long and intense process."

Pasi was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 29 after her nomination to the role in April.

This is her second assignment as ambassador, having previously served in the same role to Djibouti from 2011 to 2014.

Pasi attended Duke University with a dual major in economics and area studies, where she concentrated on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. She did her graduate work at New York University with a major in French Studies. She said it was an interdisciplinary program where she wrote a thesis that focused on how women voting trends evolved after World War II.

"I always wanted to work in the international field," said Pasi, who can speak French, German, Hindi, Romanian and Russian. "I worked as an intern in the State Department in college. It’s very exciting."

Pasi said she is a career foreign service officer.

Her previous assignments included locations in Cameroon, Romania, Ghana, Germany and in Bangladesh where she served as the deputy chief of missions.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Pasi was working as the State Department’s "desk officer" in Afghanistan. Someone in that position focuses directly on the issues of, and the country’s bilateral relations with, an individual country. She was the only focused full-time officer on duty at the time of the attacks.

"Countries we hadn’t worked closely with suddenly became united," she said

The Afghan desk has grown significantly since that time.

Pasi was most recently serving as the director of career development at the Bureau of Human Resources for the State Department, which includes a mix of 14,000 foreign service employees and 11,000 civil service employees. They also have 49,000 locally employed staff at embassies around the world.

Herkimer roots

While Pasi has international ties in her background, she said her roots are in Herkimer.

Pasi was born in Scotland to Indian parents. After living in England, her family moved to the United States and settled in Herkimer when Pasi was in elementary school. She grew up at 506 Church St., near Margaret Street, while he father worked as a general practice doctor.

Pasi said she attended the former L.W. Bills School on North Washington Street and eventually went onto become a 1980 Herkimer High School graduate.

During her years as a student at Herkimer Central School, she said she received inspiration from her teachers, especially her former French teacher.

"She was a great teacher. She talked about studying abroad in France," said Pasi. "I don’t think she realized how much she inspired the students in her class."

Pasi said there was a Spanish teacher who spoke about her time as a Peace Corps volunteer that served as an inspiration to her. She also found inspiration from her English teacher, as well as others.

"They were really, really inspirational. They kept us thinking about the greater world," she said.

From her global travels, Pasi said she will tell people she is from Herkimer and will talk about Herkimer Diamonds. She said one time she was at a restaurant in Atlanta that served Herkimer County cheese.

New assignment in Chad

Pasi is scheduled to be sworn in at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Delegate’s Lounge at the Harry S. Truman building, the main State Department building in Washington, D.C.

She said she will travel to Chad in the next two weeks.

"I’m looking forward to meeting the team," in Chad, she said.

Pasi said the process of transitioning from one ambassador to another is "really symbolic."

Pasi said when she travels to Chad, she will have two letters with her. The letters will be from Obama addressed to the president of Chad, Idriss Deby, with one stating he is recalling the previous ambassador to Chad and the other stating he would like to have Pasi serve as its new ambassador.

Pasi noted Chad is in the center of Africa, and is bordered by Libya, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Sudan, Niger and Nigeria.

"It’s a very big country, but it’s not heavily populated," she said. "They’re really important security partners."

The terrorist group Boko Haram — which kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria in 2014 — has activity in that region.

"Chad is a very good partner in trying to defeat the group and engage in peacekeeping," she said.

Careers in the U.S. State Department

"It’s been really fascinating," said Pasi, about her career in the State Department.

She said the State Department has an interest in recruiting individuals for employment opportunities. Pasi said there is a hometown diplomat program where individuals can talk about their foreign service career.

"It’s a great, great career," she said. "There are not many who are from Central New York," adding there are ones from Buffalo and Syracuse.

Pasi said there is a "very, very talented group of people in the state department. They have very unique skills."

Those looking for more information about having a job with the State Department can go to https://careers.state.gov.

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